Chapter 2 Kansas City and Fort Riley, Kansas December 30, 1916 – July 23, 1917 * * * * * * * * * * Fort Riley, Kansas December 30, 1916 My Dear Hazel, Your letter of the 23rd was delivered to me after I got on the train in Laredo and I was very glad to hear from you. We left Laredo Tuesday morning at 10 and got in here last night at 11. We had 2 wrecks on the way home. One at Clifton, Texas and one at Arkansas City, Kansas, but no one was hurt. Well, Hazel, we are sure glad to be back in God’s Country again. Of course, we feel the cold weather pretty bad but we can put up with that for the privilege of getting away from the Mexican border. We are busy here mustering out of the Federal Service back to the National Guard, and from here we will go home. I expect we will leave here Tuesday evening and get to Kansas City Wednesday morning, and we are a happy bunch here tonight. The field hospital from St. Joseph and a troop of Cavalry from St. Louis came up on the same train with us, and the 2nd Mo Regiment (the Hound Dog) are expected in here in the morning. I received your box of candy in good condition and I must congratulate you on your ability to make candy. It was by far the most delicious candy I have ever ate and I surely enjoyed it. And I want to thank you very much. It was awful good of you, Hazel, to think of me for Xmas and I am here to tell you that you can get the job of making candy for me any day. Well, I think I will take things a litle easy for awhile after I get back home. I think we are entitled to a litle rest. Oh, Hazel, I brought 2 deers with me and they are standing the cold weather just fine. Now what shall I call the other one? I haven’t named her yet and I am going to leave that to you. Shall we call her Hazel? She is awful pretty. But I must cut my letter short this time. We are pretty busy checking in our equipment and we are anxious to get back home as soon as possible. With hearty regards to you from your friend, Carl T. Hansen 3627 Main Street Kansas City, MO Write me soon please. Kansas City, Missouri January 19, 1917 My Dear Hazel, Your letter of January 4th was received and your last letter came last night and really, Hazel, I am ashamed to think that I hadn’t answered your first letter and I can hardly believe that we have been home two weeks. Well it surely seemed good to get back to God’s Country again and it has just been one continual round of pleasure and I have been very busy shaking hands with old friends and whenever I did have an evening at home, then Mother, of course, thinks she has the first claim on me. But I am getting settled down again and I must begin to look to the future and I hate to think of it, for I will have to start at the bottom again and work up. It has been a very expensive trip for me, but then, I am not worrying as I am still young. I am going to work in a flower store down town this winter and possible in the spring I will start to grow flowers again. By the way, Hazel, what is your favorite flower? I am going to send you a box later on and while I am at it, I am going to ask you when your birthday comes and how old you will be. And while I think of it, you asked me about Fred Rusk. Yes, I know him well, and while I do not believe in interfering with other peoples personal affairs, still, as a friend of yours, I must say he is not a man for your friend to correspond with. He has the sweetest wife and baby that you ever saw but there is nothing to him. My deers came through in fine shape and they are standing it just fine. I was offered $100.00 for them yesterday but I refuse to part with them. I will send you a picture of them both later on and also of myself. And say, Hazel, if you have a picture of yourself you just can’t imagine how I would love to have one. I have often wondered what you look like and now, Hazel, I must say that I have enjoyed and appreciated your letters since the first one you wrote me. You can never imagine what an inspiration and help you have been to me in the lonely days on the border. And I will always feel that I am a better man for having known you and I certainly hope we can meet face to face some time. I have not yet had much time to think of the future and my plans, but as growing flowers is my profession by choice, in fact, it is my hobby, it is a safe bet that I will stick to it in the future. You know, I am reaching the age where I begin to long for a life companion and no doubt that if I could find my mate I would ask her to share a home with me, for there is no place in the world sweeter to me than a good home. But I realize that I am getting in pretty deep and I must stop dreaming now and close for this time. I am writing this in bed and Mother has been in here 3 times now telling me to stop and go to sleep. Now Hazel, forgive me for waiting so long before I answered your letter, won’t you? And I will promise it shall not happen again and write me a long, long letter real soon. Good night. With hearty regards from yours, as ever Carl Kansas City, Missouri January 29, 1917 Dear Hazel, Your dear letter came today and to show you how glad I was to hear from you I am going to answer at once. I am very busy now working in a flower store, and it sure seems good to get back to my old vocation again. No indeed, I had not forgotten you. How could I forget a dear litle girl like you who has been so faithful and good to me in the lonesome days I spent on the border. And I assure you again that I will always have a warm spot in my heart for you for the dear and encouraging letter that you sent me so regular. The picture you sent me is just beautiful and I just worship those wonderful eyes of yours. I think they are going to cause me to leave my home one of these days. Tell me, Hazel, what would you say if I should get off the train in Seneca some day this coming spring? And what would your parents say? For I know I will see those eyes in my dreams tonight. I have been very busy the last few days making funeral designs and I am going to Leavenworth, Kansas tomorrow to decorate a church for a big wedding. Hazel, I am going to learn you to be an expert florist. You seem to have an unborn love for flowers, and that’s half of the game. With a litle experience and by studying your plants you can soon become an expert in floriculture. It has been my experience that those who loves flowers can grow better flowers than those who grows them as a vocation. Do not plant your pansies until the danger of killing frost is over, and they are different from many other flowers. They do not like very much sun and for that reason they should be planted on the north side of the house. I love pansies. They have such sassy looking faces. You asked me in your last letter what the basket I sent you was made of and I forgot to tell you. It is made from the shell of what is called the armadillo (or ant eater). Some people also calls them grave diggers. I think they are a peculiar looking animal, don’t you think so? But Hazel, I must close for this time. It is 11 o’clock now and I am going to get up at 6 o’clock in the morning and I have a hard day ahead of me. I hope you will write a long letter real soon. I would rather have one letter from you than 10 from any one else I know. I will have some pictures taken of the deers as soon as I get time and send you some. Good night. I remain as ever your sincere friend, Carl Kansas City, Missouri February 4, 1917 Dear Hazel, How prompt you were to answer my letter. I was so glad to hear from you, although I was sorry to hear that you have had to part with your Grandfather from this world. But of course, we all must part in this world sooner or later and we also know that after a good clean life here, the setting of the sun in this world is but the dawning of a grander day in the next one. And yes, Hazel, I often think of our life in the next world. But to change the subject, I have been to the Armory to drill tonight and we have been notified to be ready to leave here on very short notice. And who knows but what we may be back in military service again before very long. Hazel, whenever I see the Stars and Stripes and hear the bugle blow, I am ready to go. Patriotism is a peculiar thing. Lord knows there is not a man who hates to leave his home any more than I do. But when I see that I am needed to defend my country, why there is no ties strong enough to hold me. I was sorry to see that we had to break diplomatic relations with Germany, but there was nothing else that we could do with them. But I am sure that international politics does not interest you much. But, Dear Hazel, here you go scolding me again and just because I admire your beauty. I still claim that those eyes of yours are wonderful and I worship them as much as ever and please don’t scold me any more for I just can’t help admire them. I am awful sorry, Hazel, that you have changed your mind about me. And I just hope that you haven’t formed to bad an opinion of me, for while I am not near as good as I wish to be, still, I am trying to be as near right as I can. Mother left this morning for Chicago and Milwaukee to visit relatives and will be gone about 3 months, and I am staying with some neighbors while she is away. And it seems awful lonesome here tonight, but I will have to get used to it. I am kept very busy during the day with the flowers. There is so many funerals now that the florist business is very good. But dear, it is nearly 11 o’clock and I must close for this time. I get up at 6:30 in the morning. No, don’t fear that I get tired of your long letters, and if you want to make me feel real happy you will always write me long letters, for I surely enjoy them and hoping to hear from you real soon. I remain as ever, Carl Kansas City, Missouri February 12, 1917 Dear Hazel, Your dear letter came Saturday and I shall try to be as prompt to answer as you were. I was so glad to hear from you. There is something in your letters, Hazel, that I can never find in anybody elses letters. Your letters has always meant so much to me. I am going to try to send you a box of flowers tomorrow or Wednesday and you had better keep an eye open for them. I think I shall send them by parcel post. We have no agent in your town or I would send them to him and he would forward them to you. My firm has an agenty in nearly every town in Missouri but somehow we have none at Seneca. But I trust the flowers will reach you in good condition, and if you will only enjoy them as much as I enjoy sending them to you, then I shall be well rewarded. I am very busy these days. It is Valentines Day Wednesday and, of course, that is a big day for the florists. We ship flowers over 5 states and there is a great demand for flowers now. I made a casket cover today and I wish you could have seen it. It cost $175.00. It was made of yellow roses, lilies of the valley, orchids, violets, snapdragons, and maidenhair ferns. I shall surely try to come and see you when you graduate and I am going to ask you to let me make your graduation bouquet. Will you let me do that? Of course, graduation time is our busy time but I will come if I can see my way through. But dear, I haven’t a picture of myself now, but I will have some taken as soon as I hear from you again. Which would you rather have – a picture of me in civilian clothes or in uniform? Tell me in your next letter and I will have some taken. And by the way, you had better send that picture along next time, what do you say? Yes, Hazel, I have seen and admired the wild violets and ferns in the woods and I think I love them as much as you do. And I am hoping that I can come down and take some trips through the woods with you this spring. I do not think I was cut out to spend my life in a large city, for I do love Nature’s Beauty. Do you know that us florists and landscape gardeners, we try to hard to imitate the natural scenery but we can not produce the effect no matter how skilled we are. God is the greatest landscape artist that ever lived and I do not wonder that you find beauty in the Missouri woods, for they are really hard to copy. But I must close for this time. It is 10:30 now. I have been to the armory. Monday night is drill night and we have been ordered to be ready to leave on very short notice, of course. I hope we do not have war, but if we do, I am ready. And they will never have to ask me to come, for I just can’t stay home. Now please write me another long letter and let me know if the flowers reached you in good condition. I remain as ever Carl Kansas City, Missouri March 13, 1917 Dear Hazel, I have received all of your letters you have written me. I got your last letter yesterday and after you have read these lines you will know why I have not answered you sooner. I was called to Milwaukee, Wisconsin the 18th of February on account of my Mother’s sickness and my Dear Mother departed for her final resting place the 27th and I have been very busy since. And Dear Hazel, I must admit I could have found time to send you a few lines but it seems awful hard for me to concentrate my mind on anything. Mother was buried in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where we used to live and where my Father is buried. I just got back from Chicago yesterday and I went out home and found your letter, but I could not stay out there. I am staying with friends of mine for awhile. I am down in the store now and I think I will go to work tomorrow as I feel better when I can keep busy. Excuse my short letter, but Dear, I am not in any mood to write today. Won’t you write me soon for I am lonesome. Sincerely yours Carl Fort Riley, Kansas June 15, 1917 Dear Hazel Your letter cam this afternoon and I was more than glad to hear from you and I must admit that I feel very much ashamed of myself for discontinuing our correspondence. But Hazel, the last 3 months has been very trying on me. My Mother’s death was a hard shock to me and it seemed impossible for me to concentrate my mind on anything since, and I have tried to find consolation in my work and I succeeded fairly well, for I have been very busy while I was out in civil life and while I am pretty busy now. Still I will be ?????? since now ????? I had at home. Well, Hazel, the old uniform felt pretty good and I am glad to be back in the service again. And I am eager to go as ever and while it is a great sacrifice to me to break away from civil life again so sudden. Still, there is a day coming when this thing will be over and I know that I will always be able to look at my military career with pride. We are very busy here now training. The Government is realizing that the success of this war depends on the efficiency of our Army and Navy and they insist that every man must know his duty to perfection. There is about 3,000 men here training for the medical department. They are organizing 6 new Ambulance Companies here and we are the instructing unit for the ????? camp. I presume there is about 8,000 men here in training now including the men training for officers, and it is a pleasure to see how fast they are progressing. Of course, we do not know how long we will be here, but I really expect to be in France by October. Hazel, it is ????? think of me and of our personal needs and I am going to call on you now. I need some kind of pillow slip of a litle heavier material than the regular pillow slips. Something that I can stuff with fine hay or stray. It is those litle things that are so dear to the soldier’s heart and of course I have no one to look after me now like Mother used to do when I was on the border. But I will close for this time. It is 9:30 now and we retire at 10, and rise again at 5:00 and here is hoping we may take up our correspondence where we left off. With my best wishes for the personal welfare of yourself, I remain as ever Your Soldier Brother, Carl P.S. I will be looking for the usual letter from Seneca. Postcard of soldier’s quarters, Fort Riley, Ks: June 19, 1917 Just a line to let you know I am getting along fine here. Enjoying the outdoor life. We are drilling and studying hard but I like it very much here. Regards from Carl Fort Riley, Kansas June 20, 1917 Dear Hazel, Just received your letter and pillow and I don’t know how I can ever show my appreciation to you. It was just what I needed and I shall certainly enjoy it and I shall think of you whenever I rest my head on it. I did not mean for you to send a pillow. I just wanted a slip I could fill with hay or straw, but of course, a pillow will feel much better. We can rest most anywhere when our days work is done. We get up at 5 in the morning and have 45 minutes exercise. Then we clean up and eat breakfast at 6. Then we make up our cots and clean out our tents and at 7 we start to drill and drill until 10:30. School from 10:30 to 11:30. Rest till 1:30. School and lectures until 4. Then drill until 6. Then we clean up and eat supper and study from 7 to 9:30. So you see we are pretty well occupied during the day and most any kind of bed feels soft to us. We sleep on canvas cots and we have a straw mattress and 2 blankets. We have not yet received our mules for the ambulances nor our saddle horses but I am looking for them between now and July 1st. Personally, I am now busy drilling new recruits and learning them military discipline. After we get our animals, I will be assigned to the stables again and will have charge of 88 mules and 22 saddle horses and I will be the busiest man in the camp. Can you imagine what an undertaking it is to take 100 men, principally young doctors and medical students, men who have never handled animals before, and teach them horsemanship? They must be taught how to saddle and harness horses, riding and driving over rough territory, and the general care of their animals, for our Uncle Sam insists that his animals as well as his men gets the best of attention. I think 2 months of hard training will put us in first class condition and we are expecting to be sent to France with General Pershing’s first 25,000 men. At least, I hope so. I am anxious to see some real service. What do you think of Kansas City’s gift to the Red Cross? Isn’t that a splendid sharing? I knew the whole country would respond generous. Let me tell you, Hazel, the Red Cross is the greatest blessing to the soldier in the field. When we arrived on the Mexican border a year ago with the temperature 116 in the shade and all of the water in that country full of typhoid germs, the Red Cross was on the ground and saw that the water was boiled before we drank it and they furnished us with all the ice we needed. But the bugle is blowing call to quarters, and in 10 minutes the lights will go out. So I must close for this time, Hazel. I wish to thank you again for your kindness. And if in the future we should get in to action and all suffer some hardships, I want you to feel that you have at least helped to make on soldier comfortable. Hoping to hear from you real soon, I remain as ever Your Soldier Brother Carl Fort Riley, Kansas June 27, 1917 Dear Hazel, Your dear letter came today and I received the pillow slips yesterday, and they were just fine. Almost too nice to use around camp. Hazel, I am afraid you are going to spoil me, at least while I am a soldier. Feather pillows are a luxury in the army that only a few soldiers enjoy. I am as busy as ever and I am getting along just fine. And I like my work very much. Hazel, we are going to have the most perfect military organization in Missouri. That is saying a good deal, but I know we can accomplish it and I want you to be proud of me when you hear of us on the battle field of France doing Red Cross work. And I will tell you why I prefer the service with the medical troops to the fighting units. I am not a fighting man. I have no desire to go out and shoot some other mother’s boy. I can get much more satisfaction from going out and relieve the suffering than go out to kill. And it will possible surprise you to know that I have turned down commission of a First Lieutenant in the Cavalry 3 times since I got back from the Mexican border just because I believe in building up rather than tearing down. Hazel, you may think that I am not patriotic but I am. I will fight for my country if necessary, but I will much rather serve in the Red Cross work and I am not sure that it would ever give me any satisfaction to know that I had killed several Germans. Hazel, you can’t imagine how much comfort I get from the pillow you sent me and when I think of you, I think of the sweetest litle girl in the world. And I am beginning to think of you real often. I am so glad to hear that you are going to take part in the Red Cross work and I know you are going to like it, for you seem to be cut out for relief work. Dear Hazel, I am going to have a furlough in August and then I am going to have my picture taken and send you one if I possible can find time. I am coming down to see you. That is, if you will allow me to. It is raining hard here tonight and my tent is just beginning to leak and I am not expecting to get much sleep tonight. We generally have trouble rainy nights with our tents. The ropes shrink and break and then the tents fall down, but I am getting so used to it that I don’t mind any more. I wish I could see your flowers. I am sure they are fine. I shall be a happy man when this war is over and I can get back to raising flowers. But I must close now. The water is dripping on my cot and I will have to move. Good night. I remain as ever Your Soldier Brother, Carl P.S. Write me a long letter real soon and tell me when it is your birthday. Excuse the soiled paper. Remember, it is raining through the tent. Fort Riley, Kansas July 3, 1917 Dear Hazel, I received your letter yesterday morning and of course, was very glad to hear from you. I should have answered sooner but you know how it is. We are kept very busy. It is drilling and studying from early to late. Hazel, we are beginning to attract a good deal of attention here and we are getting more popular every day. We are now instructing the medical officers in field work. There is about 600 doctors here who have commissions as officers, but who have never had any military training and it is for their benefit that we are here now. We go out every morning and put up dressing stations and give first aid and nursing and they all are out watching us. The instructors explaining everything in detail to them, and it is really very interesting to watch those men and notice how eager they are to learn. Those men sure deserve a good deal of credit. They nearly all have left homes of comfort and convenience, good practices, and many of them have left wifes and families at home in order to come down here to learn the game of war. I class them among the most patriotic men we have in this country. They are living a life of hardship and suffering here compared with the life they lived at home. But it is gratifying to see the way they are taking hold of the work. In fact, they have made this work their religion or they would not be able to stand the physical strain they are being put under, for they range in age from 40 to 55 years. And I am telling you that my hat is off to those men. I only wish we had more of that type. Tomorrow (the 4th) we are going on dress parade in the morning. There is quite a varied program on for our entertainment here. We will have every kind of race you can imagine. There will also be lectures and concerts. But I think I will have to spend the day doing my laundry work. We have not been able to get any laundry accommodation here yet and as a result, we are our own washerwoman. But of course, we do not mind a litle thing like that. What spare time I have here on Sundays I usually spend reading or studying or saddling up my horse and go riding. Do you like to ride horseback? I just love to. I have a beautiful black horse. He has 4 white legs and a white star in his forehead. I would be awful lonely here without my horse. I am going to send you a picture of him pretty soon. [NOTE 1: Photo of Carl and 4 other soldiers] I am enclosing a snapshot we had taken a few days ago. Of course, you will recognize me on the right. The boy next to me is my second cousin. He is here with the Wisconsin Field Hospital. But I must close for this time. The Bugler is blowing (call to quarters) and in 15 minutes we must be in bed. Good night, Hazel. Your Soldier Brother, Carl P.S. Write soon please. Fort Riley, Kansas July 6, 1917 Dear Hazel, I received your letter and the beautiful articles this afternoon, and oh Hazel, you can not imagine how much I enjoy and appreciate them. What a splendid girl you are. You seem to know exactly what it requires to make a soldier happy. But dear Hazel, it seems almost a shame to use those nice things in camp. I do admire that fine work. You are certainly an artist with the needle. What a splendid wife you will make some good man some day. Hazel, if I possible can, I am going to come down to see you before we depart for France. I think we will leave here some time in August to go with our own National Guard Division. I don’t know at this time where they will be sent when they are called out, which will be about the 5th of August. It is possible we will go to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Do you know how far you are from Lawton, Oklahoma? That is close to Fort Sill. If we go down there I think I could run up and visit you from there, but of course, if we go further south I would try to come and see you before we leave here. At this time it is impossible to get a furlough. We can get a 48 hour leave of absence but that would not give me time to run down to Seneca. But I am almost sure that I can get a 10 day furlough before leaving this country. Hazel, I wish you were here this evening. I am sure you would enjoy the view that I have here. We are camping on top of a hill and as I look over the valley, I can see the camp of 5,000 soldiers and hear their happy voices. And beyond the camp I see the Republican River and across the river there is green cornfields and yellow wheat fields with a grove scattered here and there. And I see horses and cows grazing in the valley as contented as they can be. I have my horse out on pasture this evening. He just left me a few minutes ago. Whenever I turn him loose in the evening he comes up to my tent and calls for me every litle while. We are great pals. But I got away from my subject but I should certainly love to have you with me here this evening. I know you would enjoy the picture I have before me now just as the sun is sinking in the west. And to think that this beautiful and peaceful country should be mixed up in the most cruel and bloody war that this world has ever known. We have been out on a march today and the Boys are busy tonight cleaning up. Tomorrow is inspection day. We have inspection every Saturday morning and every man must be slick and clean. He must take a bath the night before and all his clothing must be clean. He must be shaved smooth and have his shoes shined and all equipment polished up. At 8 o’clock we line up for inspection and after that we go to our tents and the officers come through and inspect our quarters. Our cots must be made up all alike and a complete set of extra clothing must be laid out on the cot. And it must be perfectly clean. When the tent inspection is over, the kitchen is inspected and then the stables and animals. Hazel, when we get out of the Army and if we ever get married, we are going to make awful good husbands for we can cook, sew, scrub, make beds, and in fact, do most anything in the line of housework. But we are not doing it because we like it but because we have to. Hazel, if you ever get married, marry a soldier for they make the best husbands and I want you to have a good husband. You surely deserve it. But I must close. It is 9 o’clock and I must take a bath yet before retiring, and I will bid you good night. I know I shall dream of that sweet litle girl from the Missouri hills. I want you to know that you have made one soldier very happy and comfortable, and I shall never forget your kindness. I remain as ever, Your Soldier, Carl Fort Riley, Kansas July 11, 1917 Dear Hazel, Yur letter came this evening and I was very glad to hear from you. In fact, I have been looking for that letter from Seneca for a few days, and while I am pretty tired tonight, still, I am going to answer your letter now, for I shall not have much time for a few days. I am leaving here Friday evening for Kansas City on a short business trip. I am anxious to get my personal affairs straightened out, for I feel that we shall not remain here very much longer. Hazel, I am very glad to hear of the interest you are taking in the Red Cross work. It is certainly a splendid work the women are doing all over the country, and I admire you very much for your patriotism. One of the Boys in my tent has just got back from Junction City with a big chocolate cake and we are going to have a real feast now. I have today received my sergeant’s commission from Washington and it is signed by Secretary of War and President Wilson, and I am surely proud of it, and I think I shall always be able to look back to my military service with pride, don’t you think so? I must tell you again how much I enjoy the nice things you sent me. Those washrags are sure fine, and the moccasins, they fit me just right. I only use them when I lay down on my cot and I just haven’t had the heart to use the beautiful towel yet, and I don’t know if I ever will use it while in camp. You can’t imagine how much I appreciate those things. We can buy those things here but somehow they don’t have the value to us as those things made by loving hands. We have been out on a 10 mile march today over the hills on the Reservation. We went out 5 miles and put up a dressing station and field hospital for the benefit of the medical reserve officers. Yes, we all read in the papers where we were going to receive a housewife but so far we haven’t seen it. I think it’s all newspaper talk but I still have the one you made a year ago and I do not want to put you to any more work. You have done so much for me already. But I will close for this time. It is 9:45 now. In 10 minutes, Taps will be sounded and we must be in bed. Good night. Hoping to hear from you real soon. I remain as ever, your soldier brother, Carl P.S. I will drop you a line from Kansas City if I have time. Fort Riley, Kansas July 18, 1917 Dear Hazel, Your letter came this afternoon and as usual, I was so glad to hear from you. Hazel, you certainly write a lovely letter. I am always looking for your letters and I love to read them. I got back from Kansas City yesterday morning, and of course, it was a great relief to get away from camp. And I enjoyed my trip some, but of course, things are not as they used to be. It seemed awful lonesome to come out home and not find Mother as I used to. It is peculiar that we never really miss our loved ones until they are gone. But the trip did me a great deal of good, and I will take hold of my work with renewed strength. I think my next furlough will take me to Seneca, Mo, and I hope I will be able to get another furlough this summer before we cross the ocean. I feel sure now that we will leave for France sometime in the fall or early winter, and I feel that I must see you before I leave, for I may not come back any more. I am not looking at it that way, though. I have absolutely no fear of any kind for the outcome of the trip, but surely, there will be a good many of us who will not answer to roll call after our return. I am very happy, Hazel, for the interest you are taking in me. You have made me very glad and comfortable here and you just address me as you always have done. I am using the towel now and all the rest of the pretty things you sent me, but I am very careful with them. Hazel, I just love homemade cake and candy but I want to ask you not to send me any cake because it is very apt to get ruined in transportation. And again, it is not right for you to go to all that trouble and expense for me. While we love and appreciate those things, still, we can get along without them. That box of candy you sent me on the border was absolutely the finest I ever tasted. I can still taste it! But you must be limited in what ever you do for me, for really, Uncle Sam is taking good care of us. We had a 10 mile march today and we were wet from sweat all over when we came back. The weather has been awful hot here the last few days. I think we will leave here in about 3 weeks for Fort Sill, Oklahoma. We have received orders here lately that we will go with the Missouri-Kansas National Guard when they are called out the 5th of August. I would rather stay here than go to Fort Sill. We have a mighty find camp here and, best of all, we have fine water. In Oklahoma, the water is bad I am told. But I will close for this time or you will think I am writing a book and I am afraid this letter will find its way to the waste basket. I will be looking for the usual Seneca letter real soon. As ever Carl Fort Riley, Kansas July 21, 1917 Dear Hazel, I received your letter and kit yesterday and it certainly is fine. It just answers the purpose. You seem to have a pretty good idea of what a soldier needs and I am very glad for it. I have given the old one that you sent me a year ago to another man who did not have any. I thought you would not care. Do you? He needed it so bad. I would have answered your letter last night but we are always very busy on Friday afternoon and evening getting ready for Saturday inspection. We went on a 7 mile march this morning after inspection and just got back for dinner. And now we have nothing to do until Monday morning except take care of our horses. We are having a track meet this afternoon in Junction City. I am booked for a half mile race. We have a fine track team here and we are allowed 2 half days a week for practice. We have a baseball team and basketball team. We are going to play the Commercial Club of Junction City this afternoon. Are you interested in outdoor games? I am very fond of basketball and I like baseball too. I am training my horse now for a jumping contest we are going to have here the first part of August, and I am having a hard time with him, for this is the first military service that he has ever seen and he does not like to jump hurdles very well. But I will close for this time. It is time to get ready for the track meet. I will try to write you a longer letter next time. Thanking you again for the nice kit and things you sent me. I am, as ever Your Soldier Brother, Carl P.S. I admire the fine work on the kit and washrags. Fort Riley, Kansas July 23, 1917 [Note: Postcard showing soldier’s bunk and equipment] Just a line to tell you it is awful hot here. It was 110 yesterday. It is as bad as the border. Regards from Carl Fort Riley, Kansas July 29, 1917 Dear Hazel, Your letter came several days ago and, as usual, I was very glad to hear from you. And I would have answered sooner, but I have been under the doctor’s care for several days. The heat came very near getting the best of me. The heat has been very oppressive here for several days. The thermometer has run from 105 to 110 in the shade, and it has carried with it the hot winds that Kansas is noted for. However, I am feeling somewhat better now and I am back on duty again. I am on guard duty tonight for the first time since I have been here. Six of us sergeants have been detailed for instruction work and we are kept pretty busy here. The new recruits are continually coming in and they are organizing new field hospitals and ambulance companies right along, and as our company is the instructing unit here for the ambulance companies, you may know what is expected of us. I am breaking in 36 new men in guard duty tonight. Hazel, you ask me when I will get my next furlough. Well, I don’t know. I have 25 days coming but when they are going to give it to me is the next question. However, I am going to ask for a furlough the last part of August or first part of September. At the present time there is no furloughs granted without the consent of the Commanding General of the post. Of course, Hazel, I will let you send me a box of your candy if you like and be glad to get it. But again, I warn you to be limited. Remember, we are under hard physical strain and not used to the rich food that friends will send us. And we must be very careful in our eating. You must also remember that we might as well get used to the Army ration now, for you will not be able to send me anything after I get to France. The clippings you send me were surely good. I enjoyed them very much. Especially the prose of Missouri. And the poem is true to life. I must tell you what a compliment our Inspective Officer paid you at our last Saturday inspection. He stopped at my cot and examined and admired the kit and he said to me, “Sergeant, I must admire your Lady Friend’s skill and good taste.” 2:30 a.m. I was interrupted and called away 11 o’clock. One of my guards found a soldier out on the Reservation wandering around. His mind was a blank. I am afraid he is fighting his last battle right now. The heat has driven the poor man crazy. I took him to the hospital and the doctor says he can’t live much longer. But it is time for me to go and inspect the guard and I must close for this time. Good night. As ever Carl Fort Riley, Kansas August 4, 1917 Dear Hazel, Your letter and picture came this morning and as usual, I was glad to hear from you. And I was very glad to get your picture and I think it is a very good picture of you. And Hazel, I have promised you a picture of me several times and I am going to make good my promise this month. It is my birthday the 14th and if I can manage to get to Manhattan in the daytime soon, I will have some taken and you are to be the first one to receive one. I am going to try very hard to write you a long letter soon (as you put it) for I would not disappoint you for anything. But don’t you know Hazel, it is hard to find anything to write about. I am at the present time detailed out on what is called detached service. That is, I have been appointed instructor in horsemanship for ambulance companies 17, 18, 19, and 20 of the Regular Army, and it is going to keep me very busy for awhile. Medical work in the field in time of war is a matter of training men, horses, and mules, and in spite of the fact that it is hard and dangerous work, still I love to do it. We have about 400 saddle horses and 1,000 ambulance mules here that are practically as green as the new recruits, and they require training as well as the men do. Hazel, I love animals and it would surprise you to see what you can teach them with a litle work and kindness. I never allow a man to strike and animal. Of course, there is exceptions. Once in a while we get hold of a vicious animal that we have to handle pretty stern, but the average animal responds very readily to kindness. But there is a storm coming up now and I will have to stop for a while. Sunday morning We had a severe storm here last night and we had a fine shower with it. A few of the tents blew down during the night. I was very fortunate, however. My tent stood up and the rain was a great relief to us. It is nice and cool this morning. I am going to try to go over to service at the Y.M.C.A. building this morning. They have just completed a fine building here for us. I don’t know what we would do without them. They arrange all sorts of amusements and recreation for us free of charge. They supply us with stationery and stamps, conduct lectures, concerts, moving pictures, and arrange outdoor sports for us and we find them ever ready to assist us wherever we go. I am very glad, Hazel, that you like my letters. But you flatter me when you say that I write an interesting letter. You are the first one to tell me that. But I try my best to tell you of the conditions as I actually find them here. I am beginning to think that I will soon be writing to you from France. I can not help but think that the time of this organization is getting short in this country. Our Boys has nearly completed the course of instructions that was laid out for them here, and I am often wondering how we shall find conditions over there, and how we will adjust ourselves to the hardship and suffering that it will be necessary fo us to go through. And I often find myself wondering if I shall ever see this country again, and if I do not return again, then I am glad that there will be no one here to mourn my loss. Hazel, I am awful glad for the picture you sent me. How could I think it obtrusive of you? Never! I have always thought of you as the sweetest litle girl in the world, and I have felt sorry many times for the injustice I done you last winter by discontinuing correspondence with you. But I hope you have forgiven me for that. In fact, it was worry and grief over my Mother that caused me to be so careless. But I will close for this time. I can’t think of any more to write. May I look for a long letter real soon? As ever Carl
Fort Riley, Kansas August 12, 1917 Dear Hazel, I received your most welcome letter yesterday morning and I wanted to answer you sooner but, of course, you realize that in the Army we can not always do what we like. And now, Hazel, I shall try to tell you something about myself as well as I can. I was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1887, and emigrated to this country in 1902. I came to Fon Du Lac, Wisconsin. After 2 years work there in a greenhouse I went through high school. That is, I had 2 years in high school when I ran out of money and was compelled to go back to work again. The next 2 years I spent in Millwaukee growing American Beauties roses. By that time I had saved up enough money to take a 2 year course in horticulture, and those 2 years were spent in the Iowa State Agricultural School at Ames. From there I went to Chicago and grew roses again for a year, then I began to long for my Mother, and in 1909 I took a trip home and brought my Father and Mother back with me. We settled down in Millwaukee, where my Father died 2 years later. I kept on growing flowers, and between times study landscape gardening and lived with my Mother until 1913 when we moved to Kansas City where I had secured a position as City Forester. In the spring of 1914 I went to Europe with the intention of spending a year in Germany, England, Belgium, and France. I spent 3 months in England and was in Belgium when the War broke out, and of course, I lost no time getting out of the War Zone, and I did get back to America before the hostilities started. After I got back I started doing landscape gardening and growing nursery stock and was doing nicely until a year ago when trouble broke out between this country and Mexico. I enlisted at once and I think you know my last year’s history as well as I do myself. So you see Hazel, I have been a pretty busy man for the last 15 years. I have worked hard and I have studied hard. I have learned a great deal from my work and travels and I have a great deal to learn yet. I feel now that I have been to busy in my life trying to gain knowledge and I haven’t taken much time for recreation and pleasure, and I think that is my reason for feeling somewhat lonely now, for I haven’t a brother, or even a sweetheart somewhere (as you put it), but while I was busy and Mother was living, I never had time to think of those things. And my Mother was the world and all to me. I used to dream and plan for the future, and of course, I still do. At the same time I realize that the future is so uncertain now a days. I think it is well indeed that dreams bring no fear into our lives, else we would not dare dream, and life itself would lose its beauty and its meaning. But I started out to write you a letter and here I came very near drifting in to a sermon and I must close. Now, in conclusions, I want to thank you for your repeated offer, and there is just one more litle thing I need. I need a litle bag to carry what litle valuables we carry with us when we go in to Foreign Service. Something with a string in that I can put around my neck and wear the bag under my clothing. Outside of that I don’t need a thing and you have guessed right. I have no one to do those litle things for me. But it is getting late and I must close for this time. Now, Hazel, how is this for a long, long letter? May I look for a long, long letter soon? I remain as ever Your Soldier Brother, Carl P.S. I was so glad for your last letter. It made me so happy to know that there is someone that thinks of me. Fort Riley, Kansas August 20, 1917 Dear Hazel, I got back from Kansas City last night where I spent 4 days last week and I was awful glad to get your letter. And say, that litle bag you sent me was just the thing I wanted. You certainly know how to make a man comfortable and happy. Hazel, while I was in Kansas City I sent you a few flowers. I trust they reached you in good condition and let me tell you Dear, that if you will only enjoy them as much as I enjoyed sending them to you then I shall be happy. Flowers are not very good at this season, you know. I am also sending you under separate cover that long promised picture. And I wonder if I look anything like have have tried to imagine. The picture is exactly as I look now. We will leave here for Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Friday or Saturday this week and of course we are pretty busy now getting all our equipment boxed and crated. We carry about 16 car loads of equipment with us and 98 animals. And I am going to ask you to excuse this short letter for I am an awful busy man for the rest of the week. I think you had better send your next letter here to Riley and instruct postal authorities to forward it in case we have gone. As ever Carl P.S. Hope you will like the picture. Fort Riley, Kansas August 21, 1917 Dear Hazel, I just received your letter this evening and I am glad to know that the flowers reached you in good condition. And I am very glad that you have enjoyed them, and I assure you again that it is a great pleasure to me to send them to you. Hazel, some day when this horrible war is over, I shall pursue my vocation again and then I am going to send a bunch of my favorite flowers grown by myself. The chrysanthemums, I think, is my favorite flower although I love them all. I think I like the chrysanthemum best because they develop to a greater degree of perfection than any other flower I know of. I have grown them where the were 8 inches across. I was wishing you could have been with me in Kansas City last week. I went through Swope Park and the water lilies were in full bloom, and they were a wonderful sight. You know, there are both day and night blooming water lilies. I spent 2 hours at the pond Friday at sunset just as the day bloomers closed and the night bloomers opened, and I would love to have had you with me for I know you would have enjoyed it immensely. I was pretty much in a hurry last night when I wrote you. We are very busy now. I don’t know just what day we will get away from here, but I rather think it will be Friday or Saturday, and we are going to Camp Doniphan at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. It is raining hard here now. I am afraid we are going to have a wet night and I will have to close for my tent leaks. And I am going to wait for that long, long letter soon. Just send my mail to Riley and if we have gone, then it will be forwarded to me. I remain as ever your Soldier Brother, Carl P.S. When we get down to Oklahoma, I am going to come down to see you. Somewhere in Kansas Saturday P.M. August 25, 1917 We got away from Riley at noon and we are having a nice trip so far. We expect to reach Ft. Sill about Sunday evening. Excuse the writing. The train is awful shaky. Regards from Carl
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